United States Department of the Interior National Park ......19th century frame factory buildings that remained standing on the north side of the street were demolished in 1977 by

NPS Form 10-900 (3-82)

OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp.10-31-84

United States Department of the InteriorNational Park Service

National Register of Historic Places received Inventory Nomination Form date enteredSee instructions in How to Complete National Register FormsType all entries complete applicable sections___________________________

1. Name

For NPS use only

FEB 22 I983

historic N/A

and/orcommon Williams, J.B., Co. Historic District

2. Location

street & number Hubbard, Williams and Willieb streets N/A not for publication

city, town Glastonbury H/Ayjcinity of

state Connecticut county Hartford code 003

3. ClassificationCategory Ownership_ X_ district public

building(s) privatestructure x bothsite Public Acquisitionobject in process

being consideredN/A

StatusX occupied

unoccupiedwork in progress

Accessibleyes: restrictedyes: unrestricted

Present Useagriculture

X commercial X educational

entertainmentgovernmentindustrialmilitary

museumpark

X private residencereligiousscientifictransportationother:

4. Owner of Property

name See continuation sheet.

street & number See continuation sheet

city, town See continuation sheet _N/$,clnlty of state See continuation sheet

5. Location of Legal Descriptioncourthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Glastonbury Land Records , Town Hall

street & number Main Street

city, town Glastonbury state Connecticut

6. Representation in Existing Surveys__________State Register of Historic Places nas thjs property been determined eljgible? __ yes j^ notitle

date 1983 federal X state county local

depository for survey records Connecticut Historical Commission

city, townHartford

stateConnecticut

7. Description

Conditionexcellent __...,-.•-.- •• 4f jfiQ.

-X4-i,gopd^ 3 Q9x fair

3 deteriorated 1 ruins

unexposed

Check oneunaltered

x altered

Check onex original sitex moved date See item 4

Describe the present and original (iff known) physical appearance

Glastonbury, incorporated in 1693, is located in central Connecticut several miles south of Hartford on the east side of the Connecticut River, across from Wethersf ield. James B. Williams established his factory for the manufacture of shaving soap there in 1849 on Williams Street, about half a mile southeast of the Town Hall. All but one of his mid- and late- 19th century frame factory buildings that remained standing on the north side of the street were demolished in 1977 by order of the Building Inspec tor. A larger complex of newer brick buildings, put up soon after the turn of the century on the south side of the street, remains largely intact. These factory buildings together with the Williams family homes located nearby and other structures associated with the Williams factory and family form the subject of this nomination. The streets in the district are Williams Street, running east and west, Hubbard Street, running parallel to and south of Williams Street, and Willieb Street that connects them, running north and south, on the west. The brick factory buildings are in the center of the U thus formed, and the houses are on the streets along the three sides of the U, as shown in post-World War II aerial views (Photos 21 and 22) .

The District comprises approximately 75 acres and 30 properties. All structures but five contribute to its historic character. The boundaries are drawn to include properties with Williams family and factory associa tions, but in the process several houses without known Williams associations are included and considered contributing because by their character they add to the sense of time and place of the neighborhood. The boundaries are drawn to exclude post-World War II contemporary houses and town houses built in the last decade. One house that was built for members of the ^Williams family in the 1930 's in the Georgian Revival style, N16, 279 Hubbard Street (lot numbers show on the map, street numbers do not) , is excluded partially because of its late date and partially because an in sensitive one-story addition across the front has destroyed its integrity.

The one remaining 19th-century frame fadbry building (N 15WW, 225 Williams Street) is a simple rectangle of 2^ stories, six bays long, with vertical board siding, corrugated iron gable roof, and brick foundations. Foundations of other buildings, in some cases constructed of substantial brownstone blocks, remain visible (Photo 1) .

On the south side of the street the most sophisticated structure in the brick factory complex is the company office building, now serving as offices for the Glastonbury Board of Education. It is a three-story, Georgian Revival brick building on brownstone foundations with chiseled water table and sills, hipped roof, and columned portico (Photo 2) . The brick is laid in quoins at the corners. The roof cornice, with modillion blocks, breaks out for the central portico of four round Tuscan columns and entablature with triglyphs. The first floor windows are set in a recessed, round-headed, blind arcade and are themselves round-headed with radial muntins. The half-round transom over the panelled, two-leaf oak front doors carries out this motif. On the second floor the windows are rectangular, and in the roof there are two bull's eye dormers on each side.

8. Significance

Periodprehistoric1400-14991500-15991600-1699

x 1700-1799_X_ 1800-1 899 _X_1900-

Areas of Significance — Checkarcheology-prehistoricarcheology-historicagriculture

x architectureartcommerce f,-j *

communications ^ X

and justify belowcommunity planningconservationeconomicseducationengineeringexploration/settlementindustryinvention

landscape architecturelawliteraturemilitarymusicphilosophypolitics/government

^ ^

religionsciencesculpturesocial/humanitarian theatertransportation

£ other (specify)local history

Specific dates See item 4 Builder/Architect See item 4

Statement of Significance (in one paragraph)

Criteria C and A

The J.B. Williams Company buildings and the surrounding residences range in architectural excellence from the vernacular to the sophisticated, together constituting the distinguishable entity of a family-owned enter prise and family-dominated neighborhood (Criterion C). The company was for decades the largest employer in town, and made a significant contri bution to the history of Glastonbury (Criterion A).

The factory buildings are typical of New England, early-20th-century mill construction with load bearing exterior brick walls and heavy timber interiors, but they are better than average in execution and in present condition. The granite foundations and window sills are indicitive of the quality of materials and workmanship that went into their construction.

There was one building that was an exception. It was a large, metal- clad, gable-roofed structure, one of the first in the complex, put up as a "temporary" building in what is now the center of the court yard, and demolished in recent months. Connectors from units of the U ran at first- and second-story levels to this central building providing needed circu lation but also making a dense cluttered appearance (Photo 3). The present arrangement, with the central building removed, of an open court yard with brick building on three sides and the dam and mill pond on the north is far simpler.

In the usual 19th-century sequence, water power gave way to steam engines erected in the boiler plant on the north side of the U, and in the 20th century these gave way to diesel power. The brook continues to flow. Below the dam it first is underground and then running north be tween the U and the office building is open and visible between brownstone masonry walls. The brick pilasters between the windows in the fac tory walls, the square stair tower with pyramidal roof, and the tall yellow smoke stack of the power house round out the early 20th-century industrial image. The factory was served by a spur of the trolley line, coming east along Hubbarcl Street. Freight cars (not passenger trolleys) reached the factory via this route.

The well-designed office building provided a suitable corporate headquarters in the accepted architectural fashion of the times, Georgian Revival. Its hipped roof with bull's eye dormers, round-arched first- floor windows, and columned portico suggest the work of a competent architect, but his identity is unknown. The Board of Education, the pre sent occupant, has a notation, source unknown,.that the building was con structed in 1909.

9. Major Bibliographical ReferencesSee continuation sheet.

10. Geographical DataAcreage of nominated property ___ Quadrangle name_Glastonbury

75Quadrangle scale __ 1: 2 4 0 0 0

UTM References See continuation sheet

A i . i ii . i i . i I i I i I i . iZone Easting Northing

I_L

G , I I I , I , , I 1 , I i I i , I

Zone Easting Northing

Dl I I i I I i I I i I I I I I i . I

Fl , I I I i I . , I 1,1,11,1

Hi l I I. I . I l , I I -l I , I l , I

Verbal boundary description and justificationSee continuation sheet.

List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries

statecode county N/A______________code N/A

state N/A code N/A county N/A code N/A.

11. Form Prepared Byname/title David F. Ransom, Architectural Historian, edited by John Herzan, National

organization dateRegister Coordinator

July 12, 1979

street & number 33 Sunrise Hill Drive telephone, (203)., 521-2518,

city or town West Hartford state Connecticut

12. State Historic Preservation Officer CertificationThe evaluated significance of this property within the state is:

__ national JL__ state __ localAs the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89- 665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the Najkrfial Park Service^

State Historic Preservation Officer signature

title Director, Connecticut Histo<ocal Commission date February 14, 1983

For NFS use onlyI hereby certify that this property is included in the National Register

Keeper of the National Register

Attest: _I dateChief of Registration

NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82)

OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84


National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form

J.B. Williams Co. District - Glastonbury, CT Continuation sheet Property Owners Item number 4 Page 1

The lot number is given first, for map comparison. The address of the owner is the same as that of the property unless an additional address is given. Dates of construction in most cases come from the assessor's records or from visual approximation. The structures considered not to contribute to the historic character of the district are designated NC in front of the description. All addresses are Glastonbury, CT 06033 unless otherwise noted.

Address and Owner

S12A232 Williams StreetTown of GlastonburyTown Hall2108 Main Street

S 11, S 12222 Williams StreetSoap Factory Limited Partnershipc/o Adrian Goldman766 Broad StreetWaterford, CT 06385

S 12GG256 Williams StreetMichael T. Bouchard707 Forbes StreetEast Hartford, CT 06118

S 12HH284 Williams StreetNutmeg Investment AssociatesLimitedc/o Taylor Associates294 New London Turnpike

Date and Description

c. 1910. J.B. Williams Georgian Revival office building. Now offices of the Board of Education. Rectangular, 3-story, hipped- roof, brick structure on brownstone founda tions. Wood portico with 4 Tuscan columns protects a 2-leaf panelled oak door.

c. 1900/1910. J.B. Williams Co. factory buildings. There are three 3-story brick buildings with granite foundations and sills, a 1-story power house, and mill pond and dam. Now in course of rehabilita tion into apartments.

1892 or earlier. Small, 1^-story clapboard house on stone foundations. Thought to have been moved to this location in 1892. En trance is on the side away from the street. The house is not a continuous rectangle; the brick chimney is in the center of the eastern section, and the western section appears to have been added later. (Photo 20)

Late 19C. Clapboard, 2-story, gable-roofed box. Front verandah has turned posts and sawn brackets. There is a central brick chimney. The owner states that this struc ture was a stable used by factory employees who drove their horses to work. It was later maved a few feet east tti its present concrete foundations.

NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82)

OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp.10-31-84



J. B. Williams Co. District - Glastonbury, CT Continuation sheet Property Owners | tem number 4 Page

N 14B175 Williams StreetSarkis Brian & Jayne A. Meserlian

N 14185 Williams Street Antoinette K. Palozie 55 Prospect Street East Hartford, CT

N 14A & N 14C183 Williams Street (rear)Wayne W. & Gail B. Munsell

N 15WB203-207 Williams StreetEvans House, Inc.

c. 3Q 19C. Ell-shaped, 2-story clap board house with entrance in angle of the ell. Moved to this location about 20 years ago when the adjoining high way (Rt. 17) was constructed. Its original location was further west, on the other side of the highway. This land was part of the David W. Williams House property, N 14. This house is now on concrete foundations.

1892. The David W. Williams House. Large (42 x 69') transitional Queen Anne/Shingle Style house. There are towers, bays, porches, and 5 chimneys with 11 fireplaces. The carriage house, 32 x 54', is a companion piece. The house is now broken up into apartments.

1865 (assessor)? This 2-story house was the caretaker's cottage for the David W. Williams House (N 14). The original section is a rectangular, gable-roofed box with wood shingle siding and exposed, scroll-shaped rafter ends. Fenestration is irregular and probably not original. Sections have been added to the house from time to time. It is on stone found ations but local information has it that the house was moved to its present site from some distance to the west at an undetermined date in the past. There are some pegged mortise-and-tenon joints in the framing. There is a 12 x 12' root cellar of dressed stone located some feet behind the house built into the side of a hill.

1890. J. S. Williams House. Italianate, 2-story frame house. Wide verandah has paired, slender round columns in front of tall, 12-over-12 windows. Roof is metal, flat.

NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82)

OMB No. 1024-OO18 Exp. 10-31-84


National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination FormJ. B. Williams Co., District - Glastonbury, CT

Continuation sheet Property Owners Item number Page

N 15 WC227 Williams StreetKatherine E. Welti2461 Main Street, Box 397

N 15WD255 Williams Street Ruth Marier Lawler 780 Chestnut Hill Road

N 15WW225 Williams StreetMichael Yetiskefsky Jr.et al, c/o Yets Co. Box 299

N 15AA257 Williams StreetFranklin & Dorothy Bartlett

N 15BB263 Williams StreetRobert C. & Phyllis Fearon

N 15CC267 Williams StreetJohn S. Bemer37 Hillcrest Road

N 15DD273 Williams Street Frances W. Bemer 37 Hillcrest Road

Several structures joined together, of various ages, serving now as a garage and shop. The western section is a 2%- story barn with vertical siding and a square cupola with louvers and a pyramidal roof. Once was a storage facility for the factory.

NC 1968. Concrete and cinder block 1-story commercial building faced with natural color wood.

This was the site of the original factory buildings. One remains standing, from mid-19th C. It is a 2^-story, gable- roofed, frame structure of 8 bays, with vertical board siding and corrugated iron roof.

1924. A 2?5-story, square (24 x 24' ), hipped-roof house with clapboards cover ing the first floor and shingles the second. There is a central brick chimney with a molded top, and a central shed dormer in the front slope of the roof. The verandah across the front has round posts and square balusters in the railing.

1924. Duplicate of N 15AA. Windows are 1-over-l. There is a group of three on the right, apparently to light the living room. On the east side there are two pairs of windows. The porch has a wood lattice apron on the front, below the floor level.

c. 1875. Ell-shaped, 2-story, unpreten tious house now with aluminum clapboards. Entrance is from a porch in the ell. The porch has a turned post with sawn brackets, and a row of vertical spindles under the eaves.

18th or 19th C. ? T-shaped, gambrel-roofed house on stone foundations with wood shingle siding. There are two gabled dormers in the front slope of the gambrel over a wide verandah with round posts.

NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82)

0MB No. 1024-OO18 Exp. 10-31-84


National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination FormJ. B. Williams Co., District - Glastonbury, CT

Continuation sheet Property Owners |tem number 4 Page

N 15EE289 Williams Street Frances W. Bemer 37 Hillcrest Road

E 218 Wellieb Street Hubbard Associates 923 Main Street Manchester, CT 06040

N 10C171 Hubbard Street Marietta M. & Thomas P. Gullotta

N 11207 Hubbard StreetWilliam E. & Susan H

N 12219-221 Hubbard StreetMargaret J. Buckley

c. 1875. Near duplicate of N 15CC. Rear slope of roof continues down to first floor height.

NC 1958. Flat-roofed, 1-story, cement block commercial building.

1859. Lucius Thayer, architect. The J. B. Williams House. Brick, 3-story, Italianate mansion, 45 x 68', with tower, wide porch, and fine detail. Good sized barn has been enlarged and covered with vinyl clapboards. Both structures now apartments.

1860. Clapboard, 2-story, gable-roofed house two bays wide on the front, with door way off center to the west between the bays. 6-over-6 windows on the first floor, 3-over-3 on the second. Concrete block foundations. Original 22 x 26' section has been added onto from time to time. This house appears to have been moved from else where to its present location.

c. 1740. "The House Under the Hill." Rec tangular, 20 x 48", 2-story, clapboard,

Nickel gable-roofed house on stone foundations, with additions. Weathered shingle barn in rear. Named for the way it hugs an incline on its site.

c. 1760. Gambrel-roofed, 2-story, central chimney house on stone foundations. Five bays at first floor; three shed dormers in gambrel at second floor. Aluminum clap boards. Concrete steps.

N 12B 1904. Half of a double house. Gable-roofed, 227 Hubbard Street 2-story, 30 x 30' clapboard structure with Ulric E. Jr. & Sharon L. Cote entrance porch at west end. Porch has square

posts. There are narrow, oblong attic win dows in a wide fascia under the eaves, a bay window at first floor, and two pairs of 6-over-6 windows at both floors. Brick foundation.

N 12A229 Hubbard StreetJames E. Jr. & Joan V.Bradley

1904. Mirror image of N 12B,

NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82)

OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84



J. B. Williams Co. District - Glastonbury CT Continuation sheet Property Owners Item number 4 Page 5

N 14B237 Hubbard StreetWilliam A. Fochi67 Tall Timbers Lane

N 14247-249 Hubbard Street James W. Purtill et al c/o Four Vest Co. Box 281

N 14A257 Hubbard Street (rear)Robert J. McKeown

S 19170 Hubbard StreetBabs Warhurst Thomas

E 18 Buttonball Lane Douglas T & Mary Christine Mulcahy

S 21G232 Hubbard StreetEllen Marie B. Dickau

S 21F236 Hubbard StreetBarbara W. Dickau

NC 1979. 2^-story, 5-bay, gable-roofed, frame Georgian Revival house with central entrance Each side elevation has an exterior brick chimney. No association with the Williams era.

1886 ? Grandfather's house. Brick, 2%- story, 29 x 32' house with pediment facing street in Greek Revival style, suggesting earlier date than 1886. There is an added front porch of sawn and turned wood somewhat in the Eastlake manner that may be related to the 1886 date. There are additions to the rear, and a wood picket fence in front. Grandfather was Jerusha Hubbard, owner of the grist mill on the pond.

1890. Gable-roofed, clapboard worker's house on stone foundations.

1902. Weathered shingle, 2-story house of irregular plan with double gambrel roof and two gambrel gables. Paired 8-over-l win dows on first and second floor. Stone foundations.

1820. Greek Revival, 2-story, clapboard, 3-bay, gable-roofed house. Doorway in south of the three front bays has a flat cap and simple, flush surround, corner boards are narrow and plain. Additions to the rear. Foundations are concrete, suggesting that the house may have been moved to this location.

NC 1954 . 1^-story, gable-roofed, "Cape" style frame house with central, projecting, gabled entrance. There is a gabled dormer in the front slope of the roof on either side of the entrance. Attached breezeway and garage, No association with the Williams era.

NC 1954. Near duplicate of S 21G. Has an ex terior brick chimney on the east elevation. No association with the Williams era.

NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82)

OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84


National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination FormJ. B. Willaism Co. District - Glastonbury

Continuation sheet Property Owners Item number 4 Page 6

S 21, S 21E, E 2242 Hubbard Street (rear)Samuel B. Rentsch Jr.

S 21AA24 Hubbard Street Elizabeth Barrett Armstrong 181 Weir Street

1905. Davis & Brocks, architects. S. H. Williams House. Large and elaborate 3-story Classic Revival house on an elevated site. Siding of horizontal boards. Wing added 1940.

1905. 2-story carriage house for S Williams House.

H.

NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 (3-82) E *P' 10-31-84


National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination FormJ.B. Williams Co. District - Glastonbury, CTContinuation sheet Description___________Item number 7____________Page i_____

At the center of the roof there is a square glass monitor with pyramidal roof. A square shaft extends below the monitor through the third floor to the second, and there is an arrangement of rods and turn buckles to open and close sections of the glass from the second floor. Thus, the cupola supplies both light and ventilation to the heart of the building. An early picture (Photo 3) shows this building only four bays deep, with a single bull's eye dormer, and pyramidal roof. It was lengthened by adding three bays at the time of World War I, not long after it was built.

The four brick factory buildings, with granite foundations and sills, are just east of the office (Photos 4, 5). They are arranged in a U shape around three sides of a courtyard. The fourth (north) side is the mill pond and dam (Photo 6). A central iron-covered structure, built early in the century as a "temporary" building, has recently been demolished as part of a renovation of this complex into apartments. The buildings on the west and south side of the U are three stories high with rows of win dows set between pilasters. There is a projecting stair tower with pyra midal roof. The power house is on the north side of the U, still complete with its tall and massive yellow brick stack. The interior construction of these factory buildings is heavy wood posts, joists, and floors typical of New England "slow burning" mill construction that was encouraged by insurance companies. The idea, quite effective, was to make the interior wood elements so heavy that under fire conditions they would char but not flame. The spillway from the pond dam, i.e., the continuation of the brook, runs under the south edge of the courtyard, then runs north and visibly separates the office building from the others, and continues under Williams Street on its way north.

In 1859 James B. Williams built a fine brick Italianate mansion on the hill overlooking the factory site to the design of Lucius Thayer of Westfield, Massachusetts (E 2, 18 Wellieb Street) (Photo 7). Its pre eminent feature is a four-story, square tower with pyramidal roof posi tioned off center to the north on the front (west) facade. There is a single rectangular window at each of the first three floors and at the fourth floor two round-headed windows on all four sides. There is a wooden loggia with round-arched balustrade below these fourth-floor win dows on the front and on the north side. The two-bay principal block of the house is recessed from the front of the tower, to the south. An early picture shows that this section originally was two stories with an attic that had rectangular windows one pane high and two panes wide under the eaves. The roof was well below the loggia then in place on the south side of the tower. At an unknown date this loggia was removed, the roof raised, and the attic thereby made into a full third floor. The quoins that go all the way up the corners of the tower go up only two stories at the corner of this block; when the roof was raised the quoins were not extended. A secondary block one bay wide, recessed further back from

NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-OO18 (3-82) Exp. 10-31-84


National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination FormJ.B. Williams Co. District - Glastonbury, CT

Continuation sheet Description__________Item number 7___________Page 2_____

the front wall of the tower, is to the north. A wide porch extends across the front on both sides of the tower and continues all the way back on the south side of the house. The eaves of the porch roof are bracketed (there are no brackets on the principal roof and none show in the early photo). Each bracket is over an eight-sided post with round- headed panels (Photo 8). The windows graduate in size. The first story, floor-to-ceiling height windows are 6-over-9; the second floor windows are 6-over-6; and the third floor windows are 6-over-6 but the panes are smaller. The front door opens from the porch south of the tower. It has side and transom lights, and 2-over-2 panels, the upper pair being round-headed. As the house extends to the rear there is a final one-story clapboard section which has a back door with the same pattern of panels as the front door, but the upper panels are glazed. The brick walls appear to have been painted for a long time, perhaps from the beginning. The color is yellow, except for the brick laid as quoins which are painted red.

A large barn or carriage house goes with the house. An early photo shows that it once had a square cupola with two round-headed windows on each face, echoing the arrangement at the top of the tower of the house. The barn has been enlarged, and is now covered with vinyl clapboard siding. In the back, at the lower level, there is still in place a row of doors with the round-headed panels characteristic of this house (Photo 9). Both the house and the barn are now apartments.

J.B.'s son, David S. Williams, built a large frame house in 1892, N 14, 185 Williams Street (Photo 10). It is in the Queen Anne style, but is executed entirely in weathered shingles, on granite foundations. Its asymmetrical massing features a round tower with conical roof, a round tower with a Moorish dome, an eyebrow dormer, central gable, and three tall brick chimneys with recessed panels and molded caps. A wide porch starts at the porte-cochere at the southwest corner and runs across the front and along the east side, with round posts rising from the shingled balustrade. A horizontal band of four windows in the gable is a contem porary touch indicating that the architect was in step with the times. The roof is basically a gable roof, covered with red asphalt shingles. The first floor windows have leaded transoms, all different. The front door, 53" wide, is composed of 28 coffers, 4 wide and 7 high. The interior combines considerable light from the large windows with oak woodwork in elaborate fireplace surrounds (Photo 11) and front stairway.

The accompanying carriage house is equally fanciful in design (Photo 12). It has a square tower at the southwest corner with four-sided, onion-shaped dome, a central gable echoing that of the house, and is covered with a combination of shingles and clapboards. The back (north)

NPS Form 10-900-a QMS No. 1024-OO18 (3-82) Exp. 10-31-84


National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination FormJ.B.Williams Co. District - Glastonbury, CT

Continuation sheet Description________Item number 7_____

wall is entirely clapboards. The former cartaker's cottage, behind the carriage house, has been altered and added on to, and is of more interest for what it was than for what it is. Local tradition has it that this structure was moved to its present location at an indeterminate date from some feet to the west. The framing of the original section of the house shows pegged mortise-and-tenon joints. About 100 feet back of the cottage there is a 12 x 12 foot root cellar built of dressed granite blocks, in the side of a hill.

Another big, impressive, well-designed family house is the Samuel H. Williams frame Georgian Revival mansion of 1905 at E 2, 242 Hubbard Street, for which the plans were drawn by Davis and Brooks of Hartford (Photo 13). Samuel H. Williams was another son of J.B. Williams. This square block with elaborate trim in the classic idiom and with a wing added to the northeast in 1940 has notable porticos on three sides. The house faces west, overlooking a meadow from its elevated site. The two-story front portico is half-round with four colossal, fluted, Corinthian capitals supporting a heavy entablature. A similar one-story portico projects on the south, forming a side porch, with wide steps on three sides. A rect angular^ columned porte-cochere on the north side protects what in effect is the main entrance as the long drive from the street approaches this side of the house. Balustrades abound over the north porte-cochere and south portico and along the edge of the front porch at the roof line. Siding is wide, flush, horizontal boards. Windows are 12-over-^l. The eaves are heavily molded with modillion blocks and dentil courses. The hipped roof is capped with a widow's walk that has "Chinese Chippendale" ballustrade. Tall brick chimneys have molded tops. The interior is done in the same mode with emphasis on molded door and window surrounds and beamed ceilings. The two-story carriage house is Georgian Revival. Its central gable with eaves returns is surmounted by a lantern that has a bell-shaped dome. Vertical board-and-batten siding covers the first story and wide, flush, horizontal boards the second.

There are three other Williams family houses. J.S. Williams lived in an 1890, two-story, clapboard, Italianate structure at N 15WB, 203-207 Williams Street (Photo 14). In addition to the 36 x 44 foot principal block, there is a secondary 24 x 27 foot block to the northeast. The wide front porch, an important design feature with its paired, slender columns, protects the doorway with side and transom lights. The siding of the porch wall is flush, horizontal boards as is the wall section under the projecting roof, between the supporting brackets that have drop finials. The tall first-floor windows are 12-over-12 while those at the second floor are 8-over-8. The low hipped roof is covered with metal.

"The House Under the Hill," N 11, 207 Hubbard Street, is where J.B. Williams lived for 10 years when he first came to town (Photo 15). Thought to have been built in 1740, the house has been considerably altered over

NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 (3-82) Exp. 10-31-84

United States Department off the InteriorNational Park Service


Continuation sheet Description_________Item number 7____

the years. It is now a long, rectangular, 20 x 48-foot clapboard house with gable end of two bays off center to the left toward the street. The doorway, with a Greek Revival portico, is in the space to the right of the windows. The sash are 12-over-12 on the first floor, 12-over-8 on the second, and 6-over-6 in the attic gable. There is a weathered shingle barn to the rear. In front of the house, in addition to a hitching post, there is a row of seven stone posts that, presumably, once were part of a fence.

"Grandfather Hubbard's House," N 14, 247-249 Hubbard Street, was the home of David W. Williams for 15 years and Samuel H. Williams for 15 years. It is a three-bay, 2%-story, brick, Greek Revival house with gable-end pediments toward the street. A turned-and-sawn porch has been added across the front, with a row of vertical spindles under the porch roof. The front door is at the left; steps lead up to it under a gable in the porch roof (Photo 16). The date 1886 is associated with this house but it has the appearance of having been built much earlier in the 19th century; perhaps the porch was added in 1886. At the rear of this property there is a 19th-century, vernacular barn of vertical siding; it was once a horse barn for the factory (Photo 17).

There are several less pretentious homes in the district, at least three of which are known to have some association with the Williams factory or family. The small, two-story, gable-roofed, clapboard, square house at S 12HH, 284 Williams Street, had an earlier career as a stable for use during the day time by employees who drove or rode their horses to work, before being moved a few feet east to its present concrete foundations. On the north side of this part of Willims Street there are two pairs of modest houses. N 15CC, 267 Williams Street, and N 15EE, 289 Williams Street, are c. 1875 ell-shaped, gable-roofed, modest, frame houses, while N 15AA, 257 Williams Street, and N 15BB, 263 Williams Street, both built in 1924, are twin, square, hipped-roof houses with central chimneys, covered partially with clapboards and partially with shingles.

A comfortable double house occupies lotsN 12B andN 12A at 227 and 229 Hubbard Street. It is a gable-roofed, two-story, clapboard structure with bay windows, and with an entrance porch at each end (Photo 18). These units were lived in by supervisory personnel from the factory. The 1890 house at N 14A, 257 Hubbard Street (rear), is a simple, two-story gable-roofed, clapboard house with a long front porch and a secondary block to the northeast (Photo 19). It is the house of Mr. Robert J. McKeown who worked in the factory for 45 years.

The factory and the surrounding houses are a pocket of Williams influence in Glastonbury. Both the remaining factory buildings, with




Continuation sheet Description__________Item number 7___________Page 5_____

the exception of the office, and the big houses have been converted to apartments, or are in the course of being so converted. The industrial activity and the owners' scale of gracious living are gone. The arch itectural enframement of the factory and family remains in place, ad justed and adapted to the changing needs of a new set of socio-economic circumstances.

1. The mill dam was last used as a source of power in the 19th century when a flume carried water across the street to the buildings on the north side where the wheel is located. There is no water power machinery now visible at the site. In fact, all machinery has been removed from the buildings.




Continuation sheet Significance_________Item number 8 Page 1

The dates for the factory buildings themselves also are undocumented, but a fair indication for the whole complex is given by the Glastonbury assessor's Taxable List (at the Glastonbury Historic Society) which shows the value of the mill building in 1890 at $9,000, in 1900 $30,000 and in 1910 at $170,000. There was a fire in 1890 that damaged existing buildings on the south side of Williams Street; whether the $9,000 val uation for that year was before or after the fire is not known, but the fire may have helped encourage the building program.

Somewhat more information is at hand regarding J.B. Williams' Italianate mansion on the hill. An undated photo at the Glastonbury His toric Society, taken before the third story was added, has a hand written notation that the house was built in 1859 and that the architect was Lucius Thayer of Westfield, Massachusetts. The connection is provided through a Glastonbury girl, Julia Hubbard, who attended school in Westfield and while there lived with the Thayer family.1 Julia Hubbard later became the second Mrs. J.B. Williams and lived in the house. While the Thayer family is prominent in Westfield history, Lucius Thayer, architect, is not. There was, however, one Lucius Fowler Thayer, "engaged in engin eering, banking, and farming"^ living in Westfield in the 1850's. Possibly his abilities in the field of engineering qualified him to draw the plans for the house. Its asymmetrical massing, bold four-story tower, roof overhangs, panelled porch posts, and windows graduated in height at each story show the work of a contemporary architect well informed on the fashion of the day. Repeated use of the half-round arch for windows and for door moldings was a strong characteristic of both the house and the carriage house.

Unfortunately, the name of the architect for the 1892 David W. Williams House, is unknown. The Queen Anne/Shingle style design is well done, in the best of materials. Its fanciful towers and gables are set on granite foundations, and its many leaded, colored glass windows and its carved oak interior detail are the work of fine craftsmen. With its appendages to the rear of equally audacious carriage house, caretaker's cottage perhaps dating from the 18th century, and finally the dressed granite root cellar, it contributes considerable interest to the district.

The identity is known of the architects, Davis and Brooks, of the Samuel H. Williams 1905 Georgian Revival house because blue prints of the construction drawings are in the possession of the present owner. The Hartford firm of F. Irwin Davis and William F. Brooks was known for its work in the spirit of the Classic and Georgian Revivals. They carried out an early historic preservation project in 1914 by moving the Corinthian portico and Gibbsonian spire of Hartford's Fourth Congre gational Church (1850, S.M. Stone, New Haven) to become the front of the new Horace Bushnell Church at the intersection of Albany Avenue and Vine

r NPS Form 10-900-a QMB No. 1024-0018 (3-82) Exp. 10-31-84



W.B. Williams Co. District - Glastonbury, CT Continuation sheet Significance Item number 8

Street. Their elaborate Beaux-Arts design won them the commission, in competition, for the Hartford Municipal Building (1915), and their Orient Insurance Building (1905) on Trinity Street, now the State Treasury, is a further example of work in a similar idiom. Their tal ents were given free rein in the Samuel H. Williams House.

Over the years workers' houses have co-existed in the neighborhood with the mansions. While the assessor's Taxable List of 1910 shows that the company owned eight houses, unidentified, there is no indication that the company ever had a mill village of the type often found near textile mills, probably for two reasons. First, Glastonbury was an established community, not a remote location, making it^necessary to build worker s.! housing when the company was started in mid-19th century. Second, the number of employees in the 19th century was in the dozens, and did not reach the hundreds until the turn of the century by which time the era, and the need, for constructing mill villages had passed. Seven workers' houses are clustered at the eastern end of Williams Street. One of these is a former company stable, two were built in 1924, and the other four, approximately 100 years old, may have a history lin]<rwith the factory. On Hubbard Street the double house (N 12B, N 12A) is thought to have been owned by the company and lived in by supervisory personnel. Mr. McKeown's house (N 14A) was once owned by a member of the Williams family, rather than by the company.

James Barker Williams (1818-1907) was born in Lebanon. In 1934 he became a clerk in a general store in Manchester, becoming a partner in 1838. A studious young man, he developed an interest in chemistry and began experimenting with soap formulations in an effort to devise a product better than any of the soaps carried in the store. In 1840 he withdrew from the store and began manufacturing and marketing Williams Genuine Yankee Soap. In 1849 he moved operations to Glastonbury, taking over a small former grist mill owned by the father of his first wife, Jerusha Hubbard. This grist mill is thought to have been located near the dam of the mill pond on the south side of Williams Street. In 1850 he was manufacturing soap, blacking, and ink, with seven employees. By 1880 the number of employees had grown only to 15, and the principal product was shaving soap.3 Williams Barber's Bar Soap was exhibited at the company's booth at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

In 1880 J.B.'s eldest son, David Willard Williams (1851-1909), started a second enterprise, manufacturing laundry soap powder under the trade name Ivorine. Production facilities were located on the north side of Williams Street. The remaining building there (Photo 1) may be an Ivorine building. In 1885 the two enterprises were combined and in corporated as the J.B. Williams Company. At an unspecified date there after the laundry soap business was terminated and the Ivorine trade name was sold to Proctor and Gamble.4

r NFS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-O018 (3-82) Exp. 10-31-84


National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination FormJ.B. Williams Co. District, Glastonbury, CT

Continuation sheet Significance_________Item number 8 Page

During the 19th century the business prospered as indicated by the 1859 J.B. Williams Italianate mansion and the 1892 David W. Williams Queen Anne/Shingle Style house, but production facilities were on a comparatively modest scale. An 1890 group photo shows 17 factory workers. At about the turn of the century, gs use of shaving soap became widespread, the business burgeoned, increased in scale many times over, and the brick buildings were constructed on the south side of the street. Floor space exceeded 225,000 square feet. The years between World War I and World War II were the company's years of greatest strength. After World War II additional products and trade names were developed and purchased (Aqua Velva, Lectric Shave, Kreml, Conti, Skol) but continued success was elusive. In 1957 control of the company was sold to Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of New Jersey. In 1960 Pharmaceuticals consolidated operations in New Jersey and sold the Glastonbury land, buildings, and machinery to a group of former J.B. Williams Company employees who continued manufacturing operations under the name of Glastonbury Toiletries, Inc., continuing to supply the old products to Pharmaceuticals, Inc. until operations in Glastonbury discontinued in 1977.

Over the years the J.B. Williams Company confined itself to produc tion of shaving soap and toiletries with one important exception. There was a single industrial customer, Cheney Brothers silk mills of Manchester. Williams supplied Cheney with soap in wooden barrels for use in finishing silks for many years, until soap was replaced by synthetics.

Robert J. McKeown, then a small boy, arrived from Ireland as the last (Building 11) of the brick buildings was being constructed (see plot plan). He began his 45 year career in the factory as an office boy. In due course he became foreman of the Finishing Department where he super vised 30 workers. He retired in 1960 after J.B. Williams Company was sold. Mr. McKeown recalled that tallow, stearic acid, and cocoanut oil were among the principal raw materials used by the factory. Production started at the six soap kettles in the central building (now demolished) with the mix then pumped to Building 8A (see plot plan) for further pro cessing before coming to (his) Finishing Department on the third floor of Building 8 for drying over cans, emerging in sheet form. The sheets were compacted under hydraulic pressure and cut into cakes in which form they were marketed as shaving soap, to fit into shaving mugs. In Building 6 the Shipping Department was on the first floor, packaging and wrapping on the second, more of the Finishing Department on the third, and box making facilities on the fourth. In Building 11 the first and second floors were devoted to talcum powder, the third floor to shampoo, and the fourth floor to Lectric Shave and Aqua Velva.

According to Mr. McKeown's estimate, in the 1950s there were about 40 employees in the office and perhaps 300 production workers, men and women. The J.B. Williams Company, he says, was considered a "wonderful place to

rr :NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 (3-82) Exp. 10-31-84


National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination FormJ.B. Williams Company District - Glastonbury, CT

Continuation sheet Significance_________item number 8____________Page 4______

work." There were paid holidays early on. "We hated to see Fridays coming," he recalls. "We looked forward to Monday. We were interested in our work." The company's position in the community was unique as Glaston bury never became an industrial town. J.B. Williams Co. was by far the largest employer and largest contributor to the community's economic base.

1. Williams, The House That James Built, p.5.

2. "Memorial Service, Lucius Harrison Thayer, D.D.," p.28.

3. This account of the early history is taken primarily from Woodbridge.

4. The Proctor and Gamble librarian advised that she can find no record of this transaction, July 6, 1979.



National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination FormJ. B. Williams Co. District - Glastonbury, CT

Continuation sheet___Bibliography_______Item number_______9______Page l____

Interview with Charles M. Goddard Jr., President of Glastonbury Toiletries, May 17, 1979.

Interview with Robert J. McKeown, employee of J. B. Williams Co. for 45 years, May 15, 1979.

"Memorial Service, Lucius Harrison Thayer, D. D.", North Congregational Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, October 25, 1931. (At the Westfield Athenaeum, Westfield, Massachusetts. \

Samuel H. Williams, The House that James Built, Glastonbury, 1948. (At the Glastonbury Historical Society.)

., Shaving Soap Manufacturing in the 1870's, privatelyprinted, 1945? (At the Glastonbury Historical Society.)

———————————, James Baker Williams Family Album, privately printed, 1944. (At the Glastonbury Historical Society.)

Interview with Richard G. Williams, June 20, 1979.

Laura Woodbridge, "A Victorian Family — The Williams of Glastonbury", 1979, ms. at the State Library.

NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82)

OMB No. 1024-OO18 Exp. 10-31-84


National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination FormJ. B. Williams Co. District - Glastonbury

Continuation sheet Georgraphical Data Item number 10 Page

UTM References:

A 18/700040/4619640B 18/700020/4619580C 18/700100/4619600D 18/700140/4619570E 18/700140/4619500F 18/700260/4619460G 18/700270/4619400H 18/700010/4619360I 18/700010/4619330J 18/699990/4619330K 18/700000/4619270L 18/699960/4619350M 18/699990/4619200N 18/700000/46191900 18/699980/4610870P 18/699820/4618880Q 18/699830/4619000R 18/699770/4619030

S 18/699900/4619170 T 18/699820/4619170 U 18/699810/4619230 V 18/699770/4619220 W 18/699780/4619260 X 18/699680/4619250 Y 18/699710/4619080 Z 18/699660/4619090 Al 18/699630/4619240 Bl 18/699660/4619260 Cl 18/699680/4619360 Dl 18/699760/4619360 El 18/699750/4619480 Fl 18/699600/4619460 Gl 18/699580/4619690 HI 18/699740/4619720 II 18/699840/4619660 Jl 18/699890/4619700

Verbal Boundary Description: The boundary of the J. B. Williams Co. National Register Historic District is shown by the heavy line on the map that is drawn to the scale of 1" - 200*. It encompasses structures associated with the Williams family and their era.

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United States Department of the Interior National Park ......19th century frame factory buildings that remained standing on the north side of the street were demolished in 1977 by